Last October 2015, the EOLOS FLS200 floating LiDAR buoy successfully completed a 6-month validation campaign next to the IEC-compliant IJmuiden offshore meteorological mast in the North Sea. The campaign has been carried out in collaboration with RWE Innogy and under the framework of, and supported by, the Offshore Wind Accelerator (OWA), the Carbon Trust, as well as the Dutch R&D programme FLOW.

“It has been a great challenge to successfully complete the validation campaign and we are really satisfied with the results. The EOLOS FLS200 floating LiDAR buoy showed an excellent behaviour and system availability.” - says Rajai Aghabi, CEO of EOLOS Floating Lidar Solutions.ECN carried out the 3rd party validation, reporting excellent correlation and availability results of the performance of the EOLOS FLS200, comfortably compliant with the KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) of the Carbon Trust’s roadmap for the commercial acceptance of floating LiDAR technology. Hans Verhoef (Project leader Measurements, ECN) commented: “This marks another important step in the further maturation of floating LiDAR technology. Congratulations to all those involved!”During the validation campaign several storms have hit the site, with recorded waves of up to 15 meters and winds of more than 100km/h, including the Cyclone Niklas at the end of March (considered as one of the strongest storms in Northern Europe in recent years).“We have had the chance to prove not only the robustness of our system, but also the excellence of our logistics and operations.” - says Rajai Aghabi. Niels Bijkersma (Project Manager, RWE Innogy) highlights the efficient response of EOLOS Floating Lidar Solutions. “We worked together with the EOLOS team, who did a great job making fast decisions and reacting to the challenges that came up during the campaign. We are proud to have contributed to the validation of their system, increasing the confidence of the offshore wind market in this technology.”Megan Smith (Head of Wake and Wind Resource research at the Carbon Trust) notes the importance of floating LiDAR for the industry.

“Floating LiDAR offers a cost-effective alternative to meteorological masts, allowing developers flexibility with wind resource measurements. The OWA is pleased to have supported the successful validation of the EOLOS FLS200 against the Carbon Trust Roadmap”

The EOLOS FLS200 has been developed with the support of the KIC InnoEnergy, the European company for innovation, business creation and education in sustainable energy. In 2015, EOLOS won the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT) Innovators Award 2015.

Mikel Lasa (CEO KIC InnoEnergy Iberia) believes that the EOLOS FLS200 floating LiDAR buoy can become a game changer in the offshore wind field: “The EOLOS FLS200 offers an innovative, low cost, accurate and reliable offshore wind data source. It is a product with a great potential in the wind energy market”.

“After going through the OWA Validation Campaign, EOLOS FLS200 is now a commercially available product. We have proven its high performance and accuracy and are now ready to offer a validated, cost-effective, reliable and accurate solution to the current needs of the offshore wind market” –concludes Rajai Aghabi.

About EOLOSEOLOS Floating Lidar Solutions S.L. is a technological and service company specialised in floating LiDAR systems. The company has a dynamic and entrepreneurial team, with wide experience in the wind and offshore sector, and offers out-of-the-box and innovative solutions to the challenges of offshore wind measurements. EOLOS is supported by KIC InnoEnergy, a Knowledge and Innovation Community fostered by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT).

About RWE InnogyRWE Innogy pools the renewable energy expertise and power plants of the RWE Group. The company plans, builds and operates facilities generating power from renewable energies. Alone and with partners, RWE Innogy is currently developing European offshore wind projects. Two projects with a total capacity of some 900 MW have been commissioned in 2015: Gwynt y Môr, located off the North Wales coast, and Nordsee Ost offshore wind farm in the German North Sea region.

About Offshore Wind AcceleratorThe Offshore Wind Accelerator (OWA) is Carbon Trust's flagship collaborative RD&D programme. Set up in 2008, the OWA is a joint industry project, involving nine offshore wind developers with 72% (31GW) of the UK's licensed capacity, which aims to reduce the cost of offshore wind by 10% in time for cost savings to be realised in time for Round 3. Cost reduction is achieved through innovation.

About ECNECN is an independent specialist institute in renewable energy technologies. ECN Wind Energy harnesses over 40 years of experience in assisting the sector to lower the cost of offshore wind energy. This is achieved through a unique combination of cutting edge expertise, fully accredited measurement capability and full scale validation facilities. ECN has operated the meteorological mast IJmuiden, used in this project for RWE for more than 4 years.

About KIC InnoEnergyKIC InnoEnergy is a European company dedicated to promoting innovation, entrepreneurship and education in the sustainable energy field by bringing together academics, business and research institutes. Its goal is to make a positive impact on sustainable energy in Europe. The company does this by creating future game changers with a different mind-set, and bringing innovative products, services and successful companies to life.